After Party by Adore Delano

Adore Delano, a veteran of two different reality TV competition (she appeared out of drag as Danny Noriega on American Idol ages ago, and, of course, she was the rather polarizing runner-up in the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race), is easily making the most out of her appearances. To be fair, she has a strong cult YouTube following before she really took off after her appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but there’s no denying that the show opened a lot of doors for her. Unlike other drag queens who have appeared on the show, she prefered to eschew high camp and comedy for a more straightforward pop direction.

There was some comedy and camp in her previous effort, but inAfter Party, the music is… well, I wouldn’t say darker or more mature. It’s more, shall we say, sexual. While none of the tracks here are particularly explicit or X-rated, barring some naughty words, as the imageries she weave still shy away from being too shocking for the kids. For example, on the title track, she may claim that it’s her party – “I will fuck who I want” – but she demurs from being too explicit after dropping the F bomb – “And I’ll kiss you there“. So, this isn’t exactly GG Allin, still more like the naughty Tumblr that teenagers don’t want their parents to read.

And it’s all good. Songs like I Can’t Love You and Constellations are almost old-school in how much they are just straight-up no-nonsense pop songs with solid hooks, catchy rhythms, and choruses that stick to the head and don’t let go. Seriously, the latter is almost illegal in how addictive it is – listen to it, and try not to sing along to that damned fine chorus, I dare you. She gets a filthier in Dynamite, which is all about succumbing to a kind of desire that she knows would most likely burn her in the end, while Foreign Lover seems to be a theme song for hooking up with hot boys in every port in the world. It’s not all partying 24/7, though, as I.C.U. is all about the pain of realizing that one’s love affair is doomed to end, but the most part it is all about making a pass and hooking up for a good time. I Really Like It, which could be a flu virus in just how hard it is to get rid of this song out of one’s system, is almost an anomaly in that it is a coyer, almost more innocent approach to falling in love.

In many ways, After Party is like a more grown-up version of Till Death Do Us Party, like a teenage girl who has finally procured a fake ID and makes the most of her time club-crawling and all. This one is really too much fun, so let’s give it up to the most fabulous pop mermaid princess in town!